


Believable

by thedevilchicken



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Everyone Thinks They're Together, Feelings Realization, M/M, Rumors, Undercover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:14:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21619702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedevilchicken/pseuds/thedevilchicken
Summary: Obi-Wan and Cody start a rumour they're a couple for a mission from the Jedi Council. No one has an issue believing it.
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody/Obi-Wan Kenobi
Comments: 9
Kudos: 338
Collections: Star Wars Rare Pairs Exchange 2019





	Believable

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TexasDreamer01](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TexasDreamer01/gifts).



For weeks now, everyone's been talking about it. And maybe that was the point when this started, completely and utterly the point, undeniably the point, but that doesn't make it very much easier to stomach. It might even make it somewhat worse because the rumours, which still have half the Temple whispering, were started entirely on purpose, and there is not a single word of truth to them. Honestly, Obi-Wan thinks it might be less grating if there were - at least then he'd have done the thing everyone thinks he did, that the Council prevailed upon him to fake so that their plan would have a chance of succeeding. But, even now they all know the truth, now they know it was all arranged to make it seem natural when he "left" the Jedi, people are still talking. 

"You understand why, though," Cody says, straightforwardly, but not unkindly. And he does understand, because they're back with the 212th and they've slipped back into old routines and every time they leave a room together, every time they're the last ones in the briefing room together, every time they stand a little closer than Obi-Wan now knows he would with any of the other troopers, the entire battalion is glancing at them and telegraphing "why didn't we see it before?" They didn't see it before because nothing was happening. But now they all believe it was. 

"Well, yes, I understand," Obi-Wan says, and then he sighs and he sits down on the couch, more or less refraining from launching himself at it in the exasperated manner of his former padawan, though it's a very narrow thing. It shouldn't grate on him the way it does, but as much as he would like to let it go, to release it, accept it, it sticks with him. Unfortunately, that's what he seems to accept.

"Have you ever thought about it?" Cody asks. He looks casual, sitting there in Obi-Wan's quarters. He even sounds casual. Obi-Wan does not feel casual in the least.

"Thought about what, exactly?" Obi-Wan replies, though he has a feeling that he knows exactly what he means. 

"The rumours."

"Well, of course. They've been everywhere for several weeks. They've been quite difficult to avoid."

"No, I mean--"

"I know what you mean." And he does. Mostly because he's not completely convinced that his thoughts about the situation haven't been entirely transparent all along. 

"Cody, do you know why we were chosen?" he asks.

"No."

"But you've given it some thought." 

"Yes."

"And what conclusions have you drawn?"

"It had to be someone high-profile. Someone who works well in the field. Someone who can handle themselves in a fight. Someone the Councils trusts. And the one they sent with you had to be...well, it had to be believable."

"So you think we were chosen because the Council thought we would be a believable couple?"

"I suppose so."

"Do you?" 

It's a loaded question and Obi-Wan knows it. They've spent three weeks pretending to be what the rumour mill said they were; they talked to Anakin and Rex and they agreed what they'd say and they left the two of them to spread a believable lie, made all the more believable by the ones doing the telling, that they'd seen them together. They let them embellish it however they wanted and somehow, after a few days, the tale had gone from an illicit kiss to Obi-Wan spotted down on his knees to furtive sex against a wall. They made it look good; Obi-Wan remembers Cody's fingers on his skin, pulling his collar aside so he could suck there until his neck bruised. He remembers standing together in corners of the Temple, trying to look nonchalant, but not _too_ nonchalant, whenever someone else passed by. He remembers not feeling even remotely nonchalant. 

Everyone believed, unequivocally. And when Obi-Wan and Cody disappeared from their duties one day, no one was shocked. He wasn't the only one who'd ever left for love, after all; ex-Jedi just hadn't usually taken a clone trooper with them. So when they turned up together, mercenaries for hire to make ends meet, they were believable at that, too - they made sure of it. 

Obi-Wan remembers how that felt. Weeks of trying to act like they were lovers, like they'd been keeping it from their superiors for years, like this was precisely what they both wanted most. Weeks of sleeping in the same bunk, wearing armour they bought at a mercenary outpost somewhere on the near edge of the Outer Rim, Cody without a helmet, without his Republic whites, no yellow paint, no battalion behind them. He remembers how Cody looks without his armour. He remembers the taste of Cody's skin. It was claustrophobic and maddening and almost enough to make him curse the Council for giving him the assignment. The only problem was he knew why they'd given it to him, and he knew why he'd chosen Cody to go with him. Once they'd settled on Obi-Wan, and dismissed the thought of Anakin, there really hadn't been anyone else it could have been but Cody. 

Now here they are, in Obi-Wan's quarters in the Temple, and he knows exactly why everyone they know is so ready to believe. They believe because Obi-Wan has failed to be subtle about his interest. And the frustrating part of that is that he hasn't acted on it, not really, not of his own volition. He didn't ask for the assignment, after all; he just didn't refuse it, though chances are he could have. 

It's a loaded question. They both know he's not just asking what he's asking; there's something else beneath it. There's the thing that both of them have been avoiding: why did everyone believe? There's the thing Obi-Wan's always wondered but never had the will or cause to ask: do you want this, too? 

Cody looks at him. Closely. "Yes," he says. And though Obi-Wan's always known it, he's never really _known_ it. Now he does, and it's like a burst of warmth in his chest that he knows he should be at least ninety percent more ashamed of than he is. 

He'd like to kiss him. He'd like to do a great deal more than that. But the truth they both know is that no matter what their colleagues think, no matter the rumours that they'll likely never succeed in stopping, they both have a duty to attend to.

Obi-Wan runs his hands over his hair, then realises what he's done and tries to pat it back down into place. The attempt is completely futile and Cody doesn't quite manage to hide a smile behind his hand. Then he stops hiding it. Then he stops smiling. Then he shifts closer, and he uses both hands and all his fingers to smooth down Obi-Wan's uncharacteristically messy hair. Obi-Wan looks at him, altogether unsure what the expression is that his face is forming, as his cheeks warm up and his pulse begins to quicken. He's missed this. Too much. 

He goes to the window and he looks out over the city, leaning there, palms to the glass. He sees his reflection, his hair almost perfectly in place again. He sees Cody's reflection behind him, he feels him in the Force, and he doesn't try to stop him when he moves to stand behind him, when he moves to wrap his arms around his waist, his armoured chest pressed up to Obi-Wan's back. He's taken off his gloves, though, abandoned them on the couch, and his hands settle warmly over Obi-Wan's tunic, over his chest.

This is more than they should have but less than either of them wants. And despite what everyone else thinks, they both know their duty.

He trusts Cody with his life. Maybe one day he'll be free to trust him with the rest of it.


End file.
